This webzine is online since August 2010 and is completely dedicated to Electronic Music (EM) identified as the Berlin School style and its derived. You will find interviews but mostly reviews of ambient, sequenced and symphonic EM with a glimpse on other related genres. You have questions or want your music to be reviewed? Please read the 123 FAQ section attentively. Bear in mind the main purpose of this Blog. So welcome in and I hope it will guide you into the wonderful world of EM.

mardi 20 septembre 2016

“The big highlight of Electronica 2 - The Heart Of Noise is that we have finally find Jean Michel Jarre...He was hiding beneath his own skin!!!”

1 Part 1 (with Rone) 4:262 Part 2 4:103 Brick England (with The Pet Shop Boys) 4:014 These Creatures (with Julia Holter) 3:405 As One (with Primal Scream) 3:586 Here for You(with Gary Numan) 3:597 Electrees (with Hans Zimmer) 4:108 Exit (with Edward Snowden) 6:199 What You Want (with Peaches) 3:2710 Gisele (with Sébastien Tellier) 3:4311 Switch on Leon (with The Orb) 4:4312 Circus (with Siriusmo) 3:0913 Why This, Why That And Why? (with Yello) 3:5814 The Architect (with Jeff Mills) 4:4315 Swipe to the Right (with Cyndi Lauper) 4:5416 Walking the Mile (with Christophe) 4:5217 Falling Down 3:2318 The Heart o Noise (The Origin) 2:39 Columbia | 88875196672(CD 74:16) ***¾ (Electronica with a blend of techno and synth-pop)I liked it more than not! My 1st attempt has stopped dead at "Brick England", with The Pet Shop Boys, a thing hyper synth-pop which flooded me the ears of signals such as: I must stop here!!! And then, I had to speak about it. I spoke about Electronica 1-The Time Machine and people wondered why this silence regarding “Electronica 2 - The Heart Of Noise”! I would answer; because it must be so! It's necessary to know how to stand back and let the disappointment gone before writing a thing that would haunt me for years. You want to know what? Well I did well. The introduction of this 2nd volume on the way of seeing things in the world of EM by our Cyrona of synths demonstrates that a thing; Jean Michel Jarre is really hide in Jean Michel Jarre. Cosmic as one pleases, with a progression in the rhythm which is reminiscent of Zoolook, with organic sequences and percussions which click from everywhere, "Part 1" and "Part 2" is definitively what that Jarre did best since Revolutions. The approach is very dance with a synth as harmonious as those beautiful tunes of a synth-pop is a thing which will haunt your ears for weeks to come. And then comes "Brick England"! I shall not speak about it because it's a thing which is not just in my musical tastes and which was never moreover. It's the same thing with Peaches in "What You Want". Hip-Hop, Funk, Rythms and Blues... Name it! It's a very versatil track, but I know that the fans of Jarre's dance and pop era are shouting to the genius here...The same goes for the heavy techno-pop rhythm of "Gisele". Who is Sébastien Tellier? Any idea, but that gives a lively and heavy hyper thing which can remind Kraftwerk which would have had the taste to create. The ambient rhythm as so cosmic as oniric of "These Creatures" made me realize that I had to go farther in this “Electronica 2 - The Heart Of Noise”. The voice of Julia Holter is wonderful and enchants on a finely jerky structure. "As One" is a big techno hyper well structured which reminds me of Chronology 4. I don't know Primal Scream, but it would seem that it's a remix of their title Come Together. "Here for You" with Gary Numan is a beautiful and rather lively synth-pop which sounds very 80's, except for the arrangements of the percussions which are loaded of vitamins. Here and all over this album which is a good balance between all the styles of modern and danceable EM. The more I listen to and the more I like this song. And it's the same thing with "Swipe to the Right" where the voice of Cyndi Lauper seems to me unrecognizable by moments. But why not Bondie! The moods would have fit for her, but in a rhythmic envelope which is wild and full of so many elements that the hearing loses its listening abilities.I looked forward to hear "Electrees" with Hans Zimmer. It's as much poetic and cosmic, I would say even a little more cosmic, than "These Creatures". The voice in less but with superb arrangements which show all the skill of Jarre to toy with the secrets of cosmos. The title takes more swiftness and charges with power the heavy waves of the cosmos. I enjoyed that one too. "Exit" is a strange collaboration with Edward Snowden, the bell-ringer of alarms of the NSA, who seems to explain the how of the why on an evolutionary structure which twists itself between gloomy ambiences and a jerky rhythm before conclude in a hyperactive rave. It let me half in earnest, half in jest! "Switch on Leon" with The Orb presents a rather experimental thing with some good samplings of voices (period Zoolook?) on a rhythm which has difficulty to hatch. That asks more that a listening. "Circus", with Siriusmo, is a title as much dance than melodic. One would say a hit of the Popcorn years. That listens to well, even with a vocoder which irritates a little ears. Lise asked me if it was for kids...See the genre here! "Why This, Why That And Why?" with Yello is a great slow and very dark ballad which develops into a beautiful cosmic slow dance. A very beautiful piece of music! I never liked, and I tried, the very noisy trance style of Jeff Mills. And I dreaded, with good reason "The Architect". It's not for my ears, who earned their pay over this album, but the real connoisseurs say that it's very good. I'm very glad to not be part of their circle... "Walking the Mile" is another title which spreads little by little an evolutionary approach to end into a good Electronica for Zombies marinated in an euphoric drug. That passes better after 2 or 3 listening. The voice of Christophe is rather tiring on the system. But the music takes the top over this inconvenience. I can say the same thing for "Falling Down" whose voice smothered behind a machine which loses its oil does not manage to remove the seduction that we feel by this title which rocks between cosmic rock, with still very good percussions and superb arrangements, and a synth-pop galvanized by an industrial essence. "The Heart o Noise (The Origin)" is a slower and more experimental version of "Part 2". And that still stays some great EM.We have to admit that the technoïd vision of EM of Jean Michel Jarre is more seductive here than the more limpid one of Electronica 1-The Time Machine. Is it because the French musician was more involved at the level of the composition? That could! The fact remains that “Electronica 2 - The Heart Of Noise” goes farther by proposing 4 visions that Jarre has of EM; the cosmic rock, the dance and trance, the experimental vision and the synth-pop of the 80's. I would even add there is a small dose, much better in any case than on Volume 1, of industrial essence. But no matter, I found “Electronica 2 - The Heart Of Noise”, even if clearly more danceable, more thoughtful and more sophisticated than The Time Machine. And yes, Jean Michel Jarre is really hide in Jean Michel Jarre. And I really hope that one day, he will get out of it!Sylvain Lupari (September 19th, 2016)

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Qui suis-je

Bonjour!
My name is Sylvain Lupari from Joliette in Quebec (Canada). I’m known as Phaedream all over the Internet since the beginning of 2000 where I started to write reviews. In 2005, I joined the French Webzine Guts of Darkness and on August 2010 I created a Blog, Synth & Sequences, which has reached the point of 1 000,000 visitors on February 2017 where I also wrote my 1354th review. In French and in English, I wrote more than reviews of EM albums.
This Blog is a huge success and reference about the music which sets my mind free over the years. Too many chronicles, so I have to split this Blog in several sections. Robert Schroeder is the first to welcome my thoughts on Webpress.
So, welcome to this part of my Blog Synth&Sequences which is devoted to the music, the tones and sounds of Aachen’s own Robert Schroeder.
Here you will find informations about his career and discography and latest news as well as deep reviews about his music, his albums.
My only wish is to guide you through his impressive career and may I suggest to visit regularly my Blog Synth & Sequences for more updates on EM.